Team Development

Team Development is one of our core competencies. Over the years, we have helped hundreds of teams and team leaders to increase their effectiveness.

We believe that two heads are indeed better than one, but only when there is an atmosphere of trust and mutuality, systems and an environment that allow people to say what they really think and feel, and processes for decision making that take those thoughts and feelings into account.

Team building, team training, and team coaching are not the same, though they often occur simultaneously. Team building focuses on improving a team's internal alignment, as well as its relations with individuals and teams outside their boundary. Team training focuses on helping a team's members develop the skills they need to improve their effectiveness. Team building helps a team get over barriers in its path; team training prevents the team from running into the same barriers in the future. Team coaching usually involves individual one-on-one coaching for the team leader and the members.

Team development always begins with gathering data about the present state of the team. With that information, we then design an appropriate intervention that includes exercises and activities that help the team members to raise their awareness, process the information, celebrate accomplishments, and build collaborative action plans and agreements to address any issues.

Team Building includes things like helping a team to:

• clarify their team vision
• clarify their values, mission, and goals
• align with and execute strategy
• make sure the right people are on the team
• clarify team members' roles, responsibilities, and accountabilities
• improve the team's work processes
• clarify the team's strategies
• make sure the team has a good support system in the organization
• strengthen relationships with customers, suppliers, and others outside the team
• meet their goals
• make sure their work environment includes having fun and being creative
• remember to celebrate accomplishments

Team Training usually includes improving team members' competencies in some or all of the following skills:

• communications (effective listening, giving and receiving feedback, dialoguing, using the right vehicles appropriately)
• group problem solving
• interpersonal competencies (initiating and completing difficult conversations)
• handling conflict
• creativity
• decision making
• quality control
• measuring performance
• meeting management and facilitation
• designing and making presentations
• gathering support and resources
• team leadership
• project planning

Team Coaching includes:

• Gathering data about the team leader's and team members' effectiveness
• Assessments, as appropriate – both self-report and 360 degree assessments
• Interviewing the team leader and team members, as appropriate
• Observing and giving constructive feedback
• Designing a professional development plan for the team leader and team members – based on concrete data
• Ongoing coaching to implement the professional development plan to achieve the goals that are set
• Including other people who can support the individual's growth (HR, bosses, peers, etc.)
• Regular meetings to assess progress, set new goals, and agree on new development plans
• Skill development training